IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 519-09
July 15, 2009

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sergeant Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, of Delta, Pennsylvania, and Staff Sergeant David S. Spicer, 33, of Zanesfield, Ohio, died July 13, 2009, while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Heede was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.

Spicer was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

For additional background information on Heede, news media representatives may contact the 1st Marine Division public affairs office at (760) 725-8766.

For additional background information on Spicer, news media representatives may contact the II Marine Expeditionary Force public affairs office at (910) 451-7200.

A 33-year-old Marine from Zanesfield in Logan County, Ohio, was killed Monday in combat in Afghanistan, military officials confirmed today.

Staff Sergeant David S. Spicer died in the Helmand province, the Department of Defense said.

"He was as good a guy as you could ever meet," said Tim Stacy of Zanesfield, one of Spicer's brothers. "He was in the military for 15 years. He loved the military. It was his life."

Spicer joined the Marines after graduating from Benjamin Logan High School in Zanesfield in 1994. Zanesfield is southeast of Bellfontaine, about 53 miles from Columbus.

Spicer's wife, Kate, gave birth to their first child, a daughter, one year ago and is pregnant with a son, Stacy said.

His mother, Sandra Lockwood, and father, David Spicer, were in Delaware today when the body arrived at Dover Air Force Base, he said. Besides Stacy, Spicer is survived by two other brothers and one sister.

He was assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Stacy said his brother was an ordnance technician who had been in Afghanistan for three months and previously was in Iraq.

Spicer was one of two Marines killed Monday in the province. Officials said Michael W. Heede Jr. of Delta, Pennsylvania, also was killed. Heede was assigned to Camp Pendleton.

Stacy said the military hasn't revealed the circumstances surrounding his brother's death.

The family was told that Spicer was in line to be promoted to gunnery sergeant and will receive that honor posthumously. He will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, Stacy said.

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday the death of two Marines, including a Zanesfield native, in combat in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Staff Sergeant David S. Spicer, 33, of Zanesfield, Ohio, and Sergeant Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, of Delta, Pennsylvania, died Monday in what WRAL.com reports was a “hostile incident,” according to the Department of Defense.

Sergeant Spicer was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

He is the fifth Marine from the base to be killed in the latest offensive against the Taliban.

His brother, Tim Stacy of Zanesfield, said via telephone Wednesday afternoon that Sgt. Spicer “was a father. He was a husband. He was a son. ... He was a Marine, but he was a lot of other things.”

A 1994 graduate of Benjamin Logan High School, he began his service shortly after graduation and had been deployed to Afghanistan since May following other tours in Iraq.

He married the former Kate Thompson July 23, 2005, and they have a 1-year-old daughter and a son on the way.

According to Mr. Stacy, the 15-year veteran had been selected for promotion to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.

His awards have included the Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and numerous campaign, unit and service decorations.

Sergeant Spicer graduated from more than a dozen service schools, including Marine Scout Sniper School and Marine Close Quarters Combat Instructor’s Course.

His remains arrived Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

Sergeant Heede was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.

Sergeant Spicer is the first Logan County native to die in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Mr. Stacy told The Columbus Dispatch that his brother is to be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

A Marine Corps carry team carries a transfer case containing the remains of 
Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant David S. Spicer Dover Air Force Base, Delaware

  Photos By Thomas Gugiluzza-Smith ("Gug") October 2009

SPICER, DAVID SHANE
GYSGT   US MARINE CORPS
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/13/1975
DATE OF DEATH: 07/13/2009
BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8846
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

SPICER, DAVID SHANE II
DATE OF BIRTH: 07/10/2008
DATE OF DEATH: 07/18/2008
BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8846
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
 SON (MINOR CHILD) OF SPICER, DAVID SHANE
GYSGT US MARINE CORPS

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